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More NZ sightseeing

Started by Ianab, March 18, 2008, 06:13:15 PM

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Ianab

Did a bit of a road trip a couple of weeks back and checked out some sights.

This is the 'World famous in New Zealand' L&P bottle in Paeroa.



Then we went up to Waihi. The main attraction there is a big hole in the ground.



Crazy thing is, this is actually in the middle of the town, well 100 yards from the main street anyway.

View from the other side of the mine



Close up of one of the diggers that are the row of dots just below the rim in the photo above. They look like toys but they are normal 30ton excavators digging holes for blasting.



One of the old trucks that used to haul the rock out of the mine.



They recover 2 teaspoon of gold from each truckload, but extract almost $1m a week.
When the mine is finished they are going to fill it with water and leave a boating / fishing lake for the town, about 600 ft deep. Sign says it will take 5 years to fill, if they pump water in. 25 years to fill if they just leave it alone.

Then we went up the coast to Whangamata, and checked out the beach.



Next day Rotorua.

This the the Blue lake.



Looking the other way - there is a neat douglas fir plantation on the shore.



The walkway to the beach goes through the trees in the last pic.





Then down the road a bit further to Lake Tarawera. Hill behind the lake is Mt Tarawera, a dormant volcano.



Then we went to a wildlife park.
You could get up pretty close to a young Lion.



These are 'wild' rainbow and brown trout that live in the stream that flows through the park. They may be wild, but they hang around for the free food. Lil kept trying to starts fights between the ducks and the trout over food.  ;)



This is a pool of pet native eels. Note the duck for scale. Obviously the eels are well fed or the duck would be history.



But I think Lil's favourite was the little Kunikuni pig.



She wasn't so sure about the Emu, but it was tame as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKrMCSNpeOU

They had a great sceme going where they sell all the visitors little bags of food and get you to feed the animals for them. Must cut down on the feeding costs a lot.  ;D

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

SwampDonkey

Looks like some great places Ian. I can't get over those over grown ferns in the understory. They look interesting.  ;D Doug Fir seem to be doing well down on the coast.

With gold being $1000 an ounce even the lower concentrations can be profitable to mine again. It's amazing how close they are to town, but  I suppose it's best to live by work than to travel 100 miles away. There is a town here that fears uranium mining next door to them. There may be issues there to come.

It looks nice and warm there. Another 4 months before it's reasonably warm here unless May is unusually warm this spring.  ;D

Thanks for sharing your trip.  ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

Beautiful.  I had the opportunity to spend some time in the Nelson and Rotorua areas looking at logging a few years ago.  I love your country and will definitely come back one day.  Thanks for reviving the memories.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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